The e-mails contained an ugly ultimatum: Annette Story had to fork over $1,500 or lose contact with her son. Kidnapping? Extortion? No, just another child/family investigator (CFI) demanding an increase in his retainer. Under current Colorado law, Story had no recourse against such an outrageous threat, but a new bill…
After twelve years of investigations, exposés, books, videos and Michael-Moore-sized pontifications, what more is there to say about the 1999 Columbine shootings? Plenty, according to the makers of Thirteen Families, a new documentary set to premiere in Denver on April 18, which focuses on the victims’ families and their struggles…
Grief alters people. It can devastate and give a new sense of purpose. The murder of his son Daniel in the Columbine shootings has set Tom Mauser on a crusade against gun violence that, over twelve years, has yielded small victories and gradual change — and plenty of blowback from…
A couple of recent posts in these parts have discussed the huge demand for new water diversion projects that could be facing the Front Range in a few years. But one of the simpler solutions — xeriscaping — tends to conjure up images of barren front yards filled with rocks…
Using more sophisticated methods of measuring traffic flow than previous studies, a report on congestion in major metro areas ranks Denver’s traffic woes among the top sixteen in the country — but much worse in terms of the actual time and money wasted by motorists jammed up on the roads…
Wild horses get injured and sometimes die in federal roundups, and “excess” horses sent to slaughterhouses endure much harsh treatment along the way. But not everyone wants to hear about that — not even horse people, as one animal welfare group found out this weekend, when Rocky Mountain Horse Expo…
Amid ribbon-cutting and speeches, balloon hats and live raptors, the Denver Public Library held a grand opening for its newest addition Saturday: the Green Valley Ranch Branch Library. The $11.4 million project, paid for out of bond funds authorized four years ago, arrives at a time when DPL and other…
Statistics compiled by the Federal Trade Commission show that Colorado had the highest per-capita rate of consumer fraud complaints in the nation last year. According to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network report for 2010, Greeley, Boulder, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs all ranked among the top 15 metro areas for…
Former Senator Tim Wirth, a formidable opponent in the 1980s of the U.S. Army’s big plans for its training site in southeastern Colorado, views possible expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site as possibly a greater threat to the area’s environment and economy today than it was then. Now the…
In the dozen years since the Columbine shootings, school officials have become hypervigilant about potential troublemakers in their midst — so hyper, in fact, that state lawmakers are now seeking a formal review of school disciplinary procedures to determine if principals are too quick to involve police and the juvenile…
Last week, we reported on the anticipated demand for costly water diversion projects by 2050 — and the conservation strategy proposed in Filling the Gap, a timely report from environmental groups. Unfortunately, most Denver residents won’t read the report; most of them don’t have a clue where their water comes…
Carol Chambers, the district attorney for Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, has developed a reputation for being hell on career felons. She’s sought the death penalty in more cases than any other DA in the state and filed habitual-criminal charges at a rate four times that of her predecessor…
Trinidad’s City Council voted unanimously last week to file a lawsuit against the Arkansas River Power Authority, claiming that the co-op has bungled the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Lamar that was supposed to provide electricity to southeast Colorado. It’s the latest in a series of setbacks for…
Chuck Zukowski likes to think that his work as an El Paso County reserve deputy sheriff sharpened his skills as an off-duty investigator of cattle mutilations, UFO and Bigfoot sightings and ghostly apparitions — and vice versa. But law enforcement bosses aren’t keen on those who think differently. Last month,…
Over the next four decades, millions of new residents along the Front Range are expected to boost water demands more than 50 percent above the currently available supply. But that doesn’t mean the state needs a slew of costly water diversion projects that will damage the ecology and economy of…
Roughly four out of every ten prisoners in solitary confinement in Colorado is either developmentally disabled or mentally ill, a figure that’s been rising steadily over the past decade. Senate Bill 176, headed for a statehouse committee review later this week, seeks to drastically reduce that number — and slash…
Memorizing and reciting great verse kept the epics of the ancient world alive. It helped former hostage Terry Anderson survive years of dismal captivity — and countless closet poets from losing their sanity in a tin-ear world. And last night the act of performing classic poems became a group celebration,…
Days after Congress slashed $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management’s budget in response to public outcry over its wild horse roundups, BLM director Robert Abbey announced that the agency was “accelerating” reforms to the program, including reducing the number of mustangs removed from the range and redoubling efforts…
Locals fighting the Army’s plans for increased training on the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site — the subject of this week’s cover story, “The War Next Door” — have a basic public relations problem. Unless you grew up in southeastern Colorado, you probably have never seen its stunning views, hidden canyonlands,…
Artillery ranges and tank maneuvers on fragile grasslands. Depopulated farm towns, suitable for urban warfare exercises for thousands of troops. A military installation the size of Massachusetts, sprawling across southern Colorado from Trinidad to the Kansas border. If you’re going to plan, plan big. And the U.S. Army’s plans for…
Vowing to “run this airport like a business,” Denver International Airport manager Kim Day recently announced a ten-year financial strategy to keep operations in the black while funding a billion-dollar expansion plan. But some of DIA’s longtime vendors and contractors say they’re the ones getting the business from the airport’s…
Some roads take you forward, others to the past. Driving south of La Junta on state highway 109 is a journey back in time — way, way back. There’s little to see but rolling shortgrass prairie and occasional rock outcroppings, but don’t be fooled. You are barreling through the bottomlands…
